For now and forevermore, golf IS a sport but I'm damned if I know if golfers are athletes. You people are too damn complicated. Meanwhile on to our next challenge: SKATEBOARDING: SPORT or NOT A SPORT? SKATEBOARDERS: ATHLETES or NOT ATHLETES? Let's get a clean answer on this one, eh?

No, Skateboarding is NOT a sport, as you have no way of telling whether one person is better than another without resorting to some sort of judge. Skateboarders are atheletes however (well the good ones anyway).

So gymnastics is not a sport, nor is figure skating or snowboarding? Both of those need judges to tell the difference between elite athletes. Sport and athlete. Anyone who's done it knows that it's a grueling physical activity governed by a set of rules and regulations, which is the definition of sport.

starfucker: this would be the second time you showed up late and complained that the previous vote was incorrect and then didn't vote on the issue at hand. I sense a pattern. dng: I removed myself from voting, as the awful power to declare (let's say) golfers athletes (or not) is too intoxicating for this frail mortal form. The sweet taste of that raw tyranny could corrupt my mind, nay: MY VERY SOUL! Besides I'm very busy with my two hundred issue Thor reading marathon. You'll excuse me.

So gymnastics is not a sport, nor is figure skating or snowboarding? No, not in my book, and I'd go so far as to exclude boxing most of the time, though I freely admit that that's not the point of view of most people.

SKATEBOARDING: SPORT SKATEBOARDERS: ATHLETES Some of the shit those kids do takes as much skill and athletic ability as other activites that nobody would question their sportitude. And as for judges, I don't think that's a good enough arbiter of sportitude, because of boxing, which is so clearly a sport as to (IMHO) render any argument to the contrary ridiculous.

OT: Vito, did you ever get my email from like a week ago? But seriously Vito, "render any argument to the contrary ridiculous" and IMHO cannot logically exist in the same sentence, has to be either or so shit or get off the pot.

Here is the best way to judge what is a sport and what isn't... Activities where you go head to head against an opponent = Sport Activities where judges sit around and GIVE you points for your performance = NOT a sport

Yeah bill - shit man I'm sorry I didn't respond - LAZY AS HELL, me. Those are just clippings and memorabilia from that year's World Cup, they don't hold any value for me, you are welcome to keep them or pass them along with the book...thanks for asking!

Boxing can't count as a spor,t not just because it involves judges, but because said judges have repeated been found to not be on the up-and-up. The French judge in the last Olympics makes it difficult to trust skating offofficials too. The latter, skating, is an exhibition conducted by people with great skills, but its not a sport. If it were, the best of the best certainly wouldn't be doing Ice Capades after their amateur status expired. And technical knockout? Excuse me? You're either out cold or not.

ok, this might be a first, but I'm going with the exact opposite of my first vote. Skaters are athletes, in their own kinda dope smoking way. But its not a sport, and most skaters wouldn't want it to be anyway.

by the way, I missed it last week, but: ATHLETES: Not a friggin' chance. If John Friggin' Daly can pick up more than $800K for lugging his big ass around the links (nothin' but love, John — big fan with his own big ass), athleticism is not a primary factor. SPORT: Absolutely. The muscle memory and coordination is key to being successful. It just means that guys who aren't necessarily athletic in the traditional sense (i.e. built like Gabe Kapler) can still compete. Plus, it's each man competing on an easily understood and non-judgemental scale.